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Dear Friends,
Quartet Fest West 2025 is underway!
There are many concerts and masterclasses to observe. We have seven groups this year! And students are participating from as far away as Russia and Mexico!
The fabulous PENDERECKI STRING QUARTET are our guest artists and violist Yariv Aloni is a guest coach.
Concerts:
June 28th 1:00 PM St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (by donation) First Participants Concert
July 1st 7:30 PM Phillip T. Young Recital Hall (Pay What You Can) Penderecki String Quartet with Guest Pamela Highbaugh Aloni
July 3rd 7:30 PM Phillip T. Young Recital Hall (Pay What You Can) Penderecki String Quartet, Gaia Quartet, Ann Elliott-Goldschmid, Joanna Hood, Pamela Highbaugh Aloni, Jeremy Potts
July 4th 7:30 PM Phillip T. Young Recital Hall (by donation) Participants Final Concert
July 5th 1:00 PM St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (by donation) Gaia Quartet
Masterclasses open to the public: Phillip T. Young Recital Hall
Tuesday, June 24th 3:15-5:15 (Coach Ann Elliott-Goldschmid)
Wednesday, June 25th 3:15-5:15 (Coach Joanna Hood)
Thursday, June 26th 3:15-5:15 (Coach Pamela Highbaugh Aloni)
Monday, June 30th 3:15-5:15 (Coaches Jerzy Kaplanek and Christine Vlajk)
Tuesday, July 1st 3:15-5:15 (Coach Ann Elliott-Goldschmid)
Wednesday, July 2nd 3:15-5:15 (Coaches Jeremy Bell and Katie Schlaikjer)
Thursday, July 3rd 3:15-5:15 (Coach Yariv Aloni) (only those who cannot attend participants concert on 4th should attend as this is a dress rehearsal)
About the Penderecki String Quartet
Celebrating their 38th anniversary, the PENDERECKI STRING QUARTET is based in Waterloo, Ontario where they have been Quartet-in-Residence at Wilfrid Laurier University since 1991. Originating from Poland, Canada, and USA, they bring their varied yet collective experience to create performances that demonstrate their “remarkable range of technical excellence and emotional sweep” (Toronto Globe and Mail). The PSQ’s international performing schedule has included appearances in New York (Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Hong Kong (Academy for the Arts), Los Angeles (REDCAT Hall at Disney Center), St. Petersburg (Sheremetev Palace), the Adam Festival in New Zealand, and throughout Europe in Rome, Madrid, Paris, Belgrade, Prague, Krakow, Vilnius, and Zagreb. The PSQ has also toured extensively in Mexico, Australia, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, and from coast to coast in Canada. The PSQ’s large discography includes over three dozen recordings including the chamber music repertoire of Beethoven and Brahms as well as the first Canadian release of the six Béla Bartók quartets. Their disc of Marjan Mozetich’s “Lament in the Trampled Garden” won the 2010 JUNO Award for Best Composition, and most recently they were nominated for a 2023 JUNO for their jazz album “Blue” with Diana Panton and Don Thompson. In October 2013, the PSQ worked with Maestro Krzysztof Penderecki on his Third Quartet (2008) and performed it at Symphony Space in New York City on the occasion of his 80th birthday. This followed with the recording of Penderecki’s Third Quartet along with quartets of Norbert Palej on the Marquis label. In 2022, the PSQ was featured in Howard Shore’s soundtrack to David Cronenberg’s film Crimes of the Future. Dedicated educators, the PSQ have been recent guests at Bloomington Indiana University’s String Academy, the Beijing Conservatory, University of Southern California (Los Angeles), and with their partner universities in Osnabrück, Germany and Lyon, France.
About Pamela Highbaugh Aloni:
Praised for her “meltingly beautiful solos” and “depth and insight,” cellist PAMELA HIGHBAUGH ALONI has been an Associate Professor at UVic since 1991 where she teaches cello, chamber music, and string pedagogy. She is a founding member of theaward-winning Lafayette String Quartet which performed together for 37 years before taking their final bow in August of 2023. Highlights with the LSQ include a Beethoven cycle, a Shostakovich Cycle, and the commissioning of new quartets by women composers. Pamela, a dedicated teacher and performer, has concertized widely and plays on an 1850 George Craske cello.
Penderecki Program on July 1st:
Brahms String Quartet in B flat, Op. 67, No. 3, A Letter From the Afterlife by Dinuk Wijeratne and Schubert’s great Cello Quintet in C minor with Pamela Highbaugh Aloni.
Gala concert Program:
Selections of works with Gaia Quartet, Selections from Debussy’s String Quartet Penderecki, Mendelssohn’s sunny and brilliant Octet. Performed by the Penderecki Quartet, members of the Lafayette Quartet (Ann Elliott-Goldschmid, violin, Joanna Hood, viola and Pamela Highbaugh Aloni, cello) and UVic alumni and Victoria Symphony violinist, Jeremy Potts.
About Gaia Quartet:
GAIA Quartet is an intentionally all-women string quartet dedicated to commissioning and performing works by living composers. Founded in 2022 at the Longy School of Music of Bard College by Aspen Barker, Yi Charice Tang, Simone Cartales, and Rosalyn Taylor, GAIA Quartet was formed out of a shared passion for bringing contemporary music to modern audiences. The name “GAIA” comes from the Greek goddess Gaia, the personification of Mother Earth. She is powerful yet often overlooked, much like the composers GAIA Quartet champions. In 2023, GAIA Quartet launched Sonority Unleashed, a concert series designed to reshape how audiences experience contemporary music, by pairing each program with a different interactive element. These programs have culminated in GAIA Quartet’s debut album, In Time, which is scheduled to be released in late 2025. In Time features music exclusively by living composers and is designed to go beyond passive listening. A short literary work will accompany each piece, providing another entry point for listeners to engage with and process the music.
Gaia’s Program on July 5th:
Carrot Revolution by Gabriella Smith, Negro Folk Songs in Counterpoint by Florence Price, Blueprint by Caroline Shaw, Cuimhne by Christine Hedden, In Time by Hsiu-Ping Patrick Wu and Miami (working title) by Aspen Barker
From 1986-2023, the members of the Lafayette String Quartet entertained audiences all over North America and Europe and taught some of Canada’s finest young string players. Their residency at the University of Victoria was rich in local performances and community involvement. Their concerts in Canada and abroad were hailed as “Passionate, riveting, and with flawless ensemble.”
Today, Professors Ann Elliott-Goldschmid, Joanna Hood and Pamela Highbaugh Aloni continue to teach, coach and mentor fine young string players from all over the world at UVic’s School of Music and their colleague, Sharon Stanis is living a full life in Montreal, PQ.
We acknowledge and respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Xʷsepsəm/Esquimalt) Peoples on whose territory the university stands, and the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.
